Senator David Leyonhjelm made the baffling decision last night to effectively triple-down on his embarrassing comments about Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, telling 7.30 host Virginia Trioli that he ain’t sorry for making snide insinuations about her sex life in parliament – and on national television.
In an interview segment which plumbed the depths of misguided martyrdom, the Liberal Democrat repeatedly asserted that he was in the right to tell Hanson-Young to “stop shagging men” due to her alleged insistence that all men are rapists.
But Trioli was unsatisfied to let his claim – that Hanson-Young ever said words to that affect – go without scrutiny.
“So, give me the quote from Senator Sarah Hanson-Young where she said any of the things you just mentioned there, all men are rapists and the like. Where’s the quote?” Trioli asked.
“I was there, it wasn’t caught on Hansard,” Leyonhjelm said.
“I was in the chamber. It was in the context of a great deal of backchat going on.”
Trioli then posited that Leyonhjelm couldn’t remember the exact phrasing because Hanson-Young didn’t insinuate that all men are sexual offenders, to which Leyonhjelm said “do I have to remember every word precisely for it to have to be true?”
“In order to justify a pretty strong comment, yeah, I reckon you do,” Trioli said.
.@DavidLeyonhjelm says he’s justified in making his controversial comments about @sarahinthesen8. #abc730 #auspol @LaTrioli pic.twitter.com/crt5yOfJUH
— abc730 (@abc730) July 2, 2018
The ABC host then pushed further, asking specifically why Leyonhjelm seemed to constantly respond in a “bitchy” manner to women who oppose him in parliament, and even on basic ideological grounds.
Again, Leyonhjelm leant into the claim that Hanson-Young had specifically blasted all men as rapists, saying “when I am accused of being a sexual predator along with all the men in Australia… I feel that I am perfectly entitled to respond.”
Trioli spoke with Hanson-Young shortly afterwards. She denied ever saying words to the effect of “all men are rapists”, and said she is now seeking legal counsel regarding Leyonhjelm’s decision to flaunt disparaging comments about her on Sky News.
“The reality is [those comments] haven’t [gone away], they’ve gotten worse,” she said.
“And not only are they shouted across the chamber, we now have a member of the parliament, Senator David Leyonhjelm, going on national television and repeating these things, now, on national television.”
Watch this space to see Leyonhjelm perform the rare quadruple-down on what amounts to a wildly petulant ideological stance. You can watch the full episode HERE.
